Utah’s members of Congress in tough spot amid drama over Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ – KSLTV.com
Jun 5, 2025, 9:44 PM
The U.S. Capitol is seen, Tuesday, April 1, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
BY
Reporter/Anchor, KSL-TV (NBC) Salt Lake City
SALT LAKE CITY — The drama surrounding President Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill” escalated in a dramatic way Thursday.
President Trump and Elon Musk feuded bitterly on social media, stemming from their disagreement over the spending bill being debated in Washington, D.C.
President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk in the Oval Office of the White House, Friday, May 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
This whole issue puts Utah’s congressional delegation in a tough spot, according to Brigham Young University political science professor Quin Monson.
“The Republicans in Congress are torn in a number of different directions,” Monson said.
Musk, a onetime ally of Trump, is blasting the measure, which is expected to add more than $2 trillion to the national debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Trump, meanwhile, has championed it and said he wants it on his desk by the Fourth of July. The bill was supported by all four House members from Utah — Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Mike Kennedy and Burgess Owens.
From left, Reps. Blake Moore, Celeste Maloy, Mike Kennedy, and Burgess Owens are pictured. (KSL TV)
Monson said the GOP — which has very narrow margins in Congress — has to weigh loyalty to Trump versus concerns about spending and debt.
“It’s hugely concerning to me,” Utah Sen. John Curtis told CNN this week when asked about the financial projections for the bill, noting that the current version spends far more money than the revenue it would bring in.
“Most of us,” Curtis added, “wouldn’t do that in our businesses, in our homes and we certainly don’t do it in the state of Utah.”
Utah Sen. John Curtis speaks with CNN reporter Manu Raju in Washington, D.C. (Photo: CNN)
Musk this week called the bill a “disgusting abomination” for its spending levels. He and Trump went at it on social media Thursday, trading barbs and seeming to end what was once a close political alliance.
“I think I sprained something as I watched it happen because it was happening so fast,” Monson said. “I don’t think it’s even remotely over.”
The public feud also poses potential complications for Republicans as the Senate now takes up the bill. Utah Sen. Mike Lee posted on social media Thursday side-by-side photos of Trump and Musk, writing, “But…I really like both of them.”
“That’s a position that will become untenable in the near term,” Monson said of Lee’s post. “You’ll have to pick one of them to go with eventually.”
KSL TV reached out to all members of Utah’s congressional delegation requesting an interview Thursday about the “big beautiful bill” and the drama surrounding it, but no one agreed to talk.
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The drama surrounding President Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill” escalated in a dramatic way Thursday.
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